Not to beat the dead horse of "branding"...

I recently spotted these articles of a set of designers releasing their work for Googles 'Visual Assets'. Basically, everything that governs Googles outward appearance graphically as a brand - I refer to these basically as "Brand Guidelines". But this is the sort of thing most don't get to see regarding the process of designing logos/icons, etc. But for someone like myself, this is the sort of thing that I do with many graphic projects, and what I will supply to certain clients to keep them on track if they have in house designers to maintain consistency of the overall brand appearance moving forward. It's a good look behind the curtain to see just how much thought goes into really tight, well thought out design (whether you like Google's design or not, it's a great insider look at the physical process):

Google Visual Assets Guide : Part 1

Google Visual Assets Guide : Part 2

And an article on the entire subject behind the two part guides above.